Violation of the period of stay abroad

Determining the length of stay depends on the visa, visa-free regime or residence permit. If a person violates the period of stay abroad, he risks facing legal consequences.

Next, we will consider what consequences may occur in case of violation of the permitted periods of stay. We will also tell you what areas of our law firm's services may be useful to you in this context. Among the lawyers of the company "Prikhodko & Partners" there are specialists in migration law who can help with extending your legal period of stay abroad if the permitted period expires.

What should you know about the legal regulation of this issue?

International agreements (for example, the Agreement between Ukraine and the EU on visa-free travel) play an important role in legal regulation. No less important are the national migration laws of the host countries. When you go to a particular country, it is important to first learn its migration legislation, since this knowledge allows you to understand what is permitted and what is prohibited in the field of migration law during your visit.

For example, it often happens that a person goes to the EU as a tourist on the basis of a visa-free regime, but ultimately begins to work there without having the appropriate visa. This is fraught with a fine and a subsequent ban on entry. If a foreigner liked the country of his visit and decided to stay there to work, he must first obtain a work visa. We can help with this.

As for the calculation of the duration of stay on the basis of a visa-free regime, it is 90 out of 180 days in the Schengen area. If this period is coming to an end, you have 2 options:

• come home and go to the EU after 90 days have passed;
• take care of obtaining a visa that will allow you to stay in an EU country legally.

In the second of these scenarios, professional help plays an important role.

Missed deadlines: key reasons

As practice shows, violation of the terms of stay in the Schengen zone usually occurs for the following reasons:

• exceeding the permitted days of stay without a visa and subsequent stay with an expired visa or residence permit;
• untimely extension of documents, which also leads to sanctions in the legal sphere.

It is best to keep a close eye on when your permitted stay is about to expire, otherwise you risk encountering problems that could have been avoided.

Consequences in the legal field

Violation of the terms of stay in the EU creates a number of the following legal consequences:

• administrative liability (fines, deportation);
• ban on entry into a specific country or the entire Schengen area;
• inclusion in databases (SIS, national registers);
• negative impact on further obtaining of visas or residence permits.

Given these potential problems, it makes much more sense to keep the timing situation under control so as not to waste extra time and resources on dealing with the consequences later.

Exceptions and mitigating circumstances

Among such factors, force majeure should be mentioned (for example, this could be illness, border closure, war, emergency circumstances). Another option is to apply for legalization of stay or international protection (for example, refugee status or temporary protection).

Ways to influence the situation

The ways to influence such a situation depend on which of the listed problems you are facing. For example, strategies in the legal field can be:

• timely extension of a visa or residence permit in migration authorities;
• filing an appeal against a decision on a fine or deportation;
• use of mechanisms for humanitarian permission to stay.

Another option is to submit a request to the SIS (Schengen Information System) database, if your data has been entered there. You can request a copy of the entry, which is much easier to do with the help of a professional lawyer.

To remove the entry, we submit an application to the national authority that entered the information. In some cases, it is possible to achieve that the ban on entry to Schengen is cancelled. In other situations, when it is due to more serious offenses, it makes sense to ask for a reduction in the ban period.

Current recommendations

As for the recommendations that will be relevant for you in the legal plane, the following are worth noting:

• keep track of the days of stay abroad;
• use official calculators of days of stay in Schengen;
• always have supporting documents in case of force majeure.

At the same time, our migration law specialists can offer you the following services in this area of ​​jurisprudence:

• advisory support, thanks to which you can learn about all those aspects of the legal field of the Schengen zone that will be significant for you;
• legal support in the process of extending a residence permit (for example, obtaining a visa) or minimizing the consequences if the relevant deadline is violated.

To order these services, you can fill out the feedback form on our website. A lawyer will contact you shortly.